Monday, February 16, 2009

Air Canada?

I just had the most unreal Air Canada experience. I avoid Air Canada as much as I possibly can, but I booked my trip to Utah with a couple of Air Canada legs. It was unavoidable. I booked through Expedia as it was such a good package deal that nobody else could get and it's AC to Portlan, Alaska to Salt Lake City (operated by Delta) and then Salt Lake City to Seattle on Delta (operated by Skywest) and AC home. Yikes.

So I phoned Expedia and they suggested I phone Delta. I phoned Delta and they said skis are no problem but I might have to pay for it as an extra bag, but I should talk to Air Canada as I hit them first.

I looked on the Air Canada website and it said there would be no extra charges as long as you pre-register your skis. So I phoned and expected the worst. I got Craig in Winnipeg.

So Craig started pre-registering my skis. He told me that I'm allowed two bags and since I've pre-registered there will be no extra charges, either going there or on the way home. I asked him if it would be possible to check them all the way through to Salt Lake City. He thought it was possible, but asked if I could hold for a few minutes so that he could check it out. That's when things got crazy.

I was on hold for about 10 minutes and Craig came back. He apologized and then:

"I phoned Alaska airlines and they said that as long as we aren't charging you for your skis, they'll check all your baggage through with no problems. You're fine on the way home with us as well, but I was worried that Delta might try to charge you on the way back home. So I phoned them and asked them if it would be possible for you to do this. The lady said that if we were going to let your stuff on the plane without charges, they probably would too. I made both Delta and Alaska put a note on your file that you have skis so at least they were aware of them."

Huh? I told him that I had problems with Air Canada in the past and that he had been a serious breathe of fresh air. I asked him if there was any way I could pass on a job-well-done to his supervisor and he told me he appreciated it but it wasn't necessary. He said that he liked to treat people the way he wishes he was treated.

I then went to the Air Canada website to see if there was any way I could pass this along, but all there was was the same phone number that I had phoned. No way to even tell them they had done a good job. Which is really the root of their problem, you know?

PS - I forgot. When I was hanging up he asked if anybody was traveling with me. He was going to make the same arrangements for them.